Instead of what Whole Foods calls “Chickens Raised with Care,” the investigators found starving, debeaked hens and roosters covered in feces and crowded in a dark shed so thick with pollution the investigators’ eyes and throats burned. In the video you watch them gently gather up one little hen who is dying and carry her out of that terrible place and nurse her back to health and happiness. They name her Mei Hua, which means Beautiful Flower.

Mei Hua, as she was discovered by her rescuers at the Petaluma Poultry egg farmMei Hua, being examined by the vet

Mei Hua, being examined by the vetMei Hua, enjoying her new life on a sanctuary

In describing the growing market of so called “humane” animal products, DxE director Wayne Hsiung writes:

“This is ‘humanewashing’ — a systematic effort to disguise brutal violence against animals as responsible or compassionate. And its growth is astonishing. Every week, a new article comes out in outlets such as The New York Times about the industry’s attempts to ‘lure the sensitive carnivore.’ The fastest-growing restaurant in the world – Chipotle Mexican Grill – doubled its sales of pork after switching to a so-called humane supplier. And Fortune Magazine writes that humanewashing champion Whole Foods is taking over the country. A dizzying array of industry-funded standards (AHA, HFAC, GAP, AWA) has sprung up to feed this rising juggernaut of animal industry. But through it all, one thing has been dreadfully missing: the truth.”